The Next Generation
by goshinote
Summary: Little one-shots and drabbles about Kagome's pregnant days. Will eventually include little stories about her and Inuyasha's children. Varying POVs and lots of fun.
1. Sick

Hi, my dears. :)

Here is my fic full of one-shots and drabbles about Kagome's pregnancy. I'll probably wind up including others about Izayoi and baby Sota's childhoods within this fic instead of creating a whole other one.

Also, not only will this fic include Kagome and Inuyasha's POVs again, but it'll also include other characters like Rin, Shippo, and the rest of the gang that we all love so much. :

Speaking of Rin, she was pretty absent in my Our Own Time fic, but I do have some big plans for her in another fic I'm currently writing. ;)

Without further ado, here's the first one-shot of Next Generation.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Kagome:

As soon as I woke up, I ran outside.

Inuyasha came up behind me as I vomited on the grass outside of our house.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he rubbed my back.

When the nausea went away, I sat up and nodded. "Yeah," I replied. "I'm fine."

Inuyasha's eyes were wide. "What the heck happened?" he asked. I rubbed my stomach.

"Pregnant women usually get morning sickness," I explained. "I guess I'm one of them." I tried to smile, but I was hit with another wave of nausea.

Inuyasha ran inside to get me a wet cloth and wiped my face with it.

"Are you better?" he asked.

I took a deep breath and nodded. Slowly, I stood up and went back in the house to rinse my

mouth out. Once that was done, I felt much better.

I rubbed my baby bump gently. "You better not do that again," I lightly scolded. I patted my abdomen and smiled at Inuyasha.

"I'm okay now," I assured him. "But let's go to Kaede's house. In the future, they have medication for morning sickness, so I want to see if there are any natural remedies in this time." Inuyasha still looked worried.

"Do you want anything before we go?" he asked. "Water, breakfast?" I made a face and shook my head.

"No food," I replied.

With that, Inuyasha picked me up, much like he had right before he told me I was pregnant, and started carrying me to Kaede's house. I didn't even bother protesting; instead, I just smiled and lay against his chest.

Inuyasha had told me I was pregnant about a week ago, so I was trying to adjust to the fact that there was a tiny human, well, human-yokai, growing in my uterus.

This was the first time I'd gotten sick, so I figured I was around six or seven weeks pregnant. I hadn't begun to show yet, which I figured was normal. Even so, I was wobbly enough to feel like I was six or seven _months_ pregnant. Inuyasha was always saying how clumsy I was, and I guess being pregnant made it worse.

When we reached Kaede's house, I nearly got sick again.

I took a deep breath as Inuyasha carried me inside. As soon as we walked in, Kaede helped me sit down.

"What's wrong, child?" she asked. I pointed to my stomach.

"It's the baby's fault," I replied. I tried to smile. "I'm kidding," I added. "I just have pretty bad morning sickness." Kaede nodded and got up to look through some of her herbs.

"Here is a remedy that most of our pregnant women use," she explained as she handed a small bottle to me. "Just take a little bit when ye begin to feel nauseous and it'll help rid ye of the ailment."

I examined the bottle and put a little of the remedy in my hand. Once I'd taken it, I quickly began to feel better, and I turned to smile at Inuyasha. He still looked pretty nervous.

"Much better," I said as I took his hand. He eyed me.

"Are you sure?" he asked. I nodded.

We stayed at Kaede's house for a little while longer so she could give me some other things that pregnant women usually used.

Once we were all stocked up on remedies for pain, swollen feet, and some other crappy pregnant stuff that I didn't want to think about yet, Inuyasha and I left.

Instead of going to Goshinboku like usual, we went straight home to drop everything off.

Once we had them organized, Inuyasha sat down and looked at me.

"So, that's probably not going to happen again, right?" he asked. "Because it was pretty scary." I took his hand reassuringly.

"If Kaede's remedy works like it did today, then I should be fine," I replied. Inuyasha looked relieved, but also a little guilty.

"Okay, good," he said. "It was just…" He didn't finish, and that's when I began to get worried.

"It was just what?" I asked. Inuyasha looked at me sheepishly.

"It was just so nasty," he finally said. "Ugh." He flinched a little when he said that.

It almost seemed like he thought I was going to swat him, which I considered doing. Instead, I just laughed.

"It was nasty for me, too," I replied. "I hope it doesn't happen again, but if it does, then you don't have to look. Just stay inside."

Inuyasha looked annoyed. "I'm not gonna let you go outside and puke alone, baka," he scolded. "That's my kid you've got cooking in there, so we're in this together." It looked like he was trying his best to switch his disgust to a look of concern, and I couldn't help but laugh again.

I moved over to wrap my arms around his waist. "Thank you," I said sincerely. Inuyasha ran his hand through my hair.

"So, uh," he began as he wrapped a lock of my hair around his finger. "There isn't any other sort of gross stuff…right?"

I thought about all of the stuff Sango had told me about her pregnancies. According to what I'd heard, it'll only get worse.

"Don't worry, dear," I said. "We can talk about that later." Inuyasha looked like he was about to get riled up about any future "gross stuff," but I silenced him with a kiss.

After a few tries to pull away, he finally gave in and kissed me back passionately.

Even though things would get harder pretty quickly, I knew that Inuyasha would be there with me for everything. It's like he said: we're in this together. We can do it.

We were ready.

I hope you enjoyed this! I'm just playing around with some different random stories to fill in some stuff I didn't include in OOT. Chapters will be short, but I'll try to write and upload as much as possible! I still have OOT to finish and a couple others I'm working on and school, of course, so I'll do my best to post often. Hopefully this will keep you guys content until I can post more of this and OOT! :

Let me know what you think.  
Much love. :)


	2. Moody Kagome

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Inuyasha:

I couldn't tell whether or not I liked Pregnant Kagome.

I mean, of course I loved her more than anything and she was my wife and all that, but it was hard to…understand who this new version of Kagome was. Sometimes she was crying about who knows what, other times she was yelling about who knows what, and sometimes she was just sitting and smiling about who knows what.

It was very exhausting.

I tried to remember how Sango was when she's been pregnant. Sometimes she got a little extra annoyed at Miroku or me, but it was never anything like what was happening with Kagome. Maybe I just didn't notice because I wasn't around Sango as much as I was around Kagome, but still. I didn't think how Kagome was feeling was normal.

I was too afraid to ask Kagome herself about what the heck was wrong with her, so I turned to Miroku of all people. I mean, hey, he had three kids and a fourth on the way. He was bound to know something.

Word was sent to our village that my and Miroku's aid was needed to slay a yokai that was terrorizing another village several miles away. The trip would take Miroku and I several hours, so I figured I'd be able to talk to him then.

The first obstacle I had to cross was actually leaving the village.

Kagome was laying down at our house; she'd begun to take afternoon naps since she'd gotten pregnant. It had been my suggestion, and I was surprised that she actually had listened to me.

As I walked in the house to tell her that I was leaving that night, I braced myself for whatever reaction I would face. This is where the crying, yelling, or smiling came into play.

"Kagome?" I said quietly as I knelt down beside her sleeping figure. Kagome's eyes were already opened, so I was glad to see that I hadn't woken the beast-I mean, my beautiful wife.

Kagome sat up when I came to perch beside her on our futon. She smiled when she looked at me, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. No yelling today.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as Kagome yawned and stretched.

"I'm okay," she replied. "I always feel good after I sleep." I smiled and took her hand.

"Miroku and I got called on an urgent job," I told her. "We need to leave pretty soon." Kagome looked at me for a moment, and then she stood up.

"You could've told me sooner," she muttered as she walked over to get some water. I hesitated, but finally stood up to join her.

"Will you be okay?" I asked. Kagome looked at me and frowned.

"I'm pregnant, Inuyasha," she said. "It's not like I'm incapable of anything." I paused for a moment, unsure of how to approach this situation.

"Well, great," I replied. "I'm happy to hear that."

"How long will we be gone?" she asked. _Oh crap,_ I thought to myself.

"Actually," I began slowly, "Miroku and I will be going alone." Kagome turned to look at me from where she had found a spot in front of the stove.

"Oh," she said. "I see." She turned away from me and began stoking the fire.

"So…are you gonna be alright?" I asked. Kagome didn't answer me; instead, she kept her gaze on the fire.

Finally, she sighed. "I suppose," she replied. She glanced at the door. "Maybe you should just go ahead and go since apparently you don't want me around." Her voice broke on the last word, and then that's when the crying started.

Dang it. I'd been so close.

"Hey, hey," I said as I knelt down beside her and held her close. "Of course I want you around. Don't be stupid." Kagome's cries intensified. Oops.

"Sorry," I added quickly. "But I love you, Kagome. I want you around, but not on this job. This yokai is supposed to be incredibly strong. No one's been able to defeat it yet. Miroku and I are like the fifth people they've called to exterminate it."

Kagome's cries abruptly stopped as she whipped her head up to look at me.

"Oh, no," she wailed as she began crying again. "You're gonna die!" She leaned forward and buried her face in my haori. I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I patted her back.

"I'm not gonna die," I replied. "Remember what I've said before? If I die, who's gonna keep your butt out of trouble?" Kagome shook her head against my chest and kept crying.

I gave up on trying to talk her down, so I just held her as she cried.

After a few minutes, her sobs subsided and she sat up. She wiped her face off on her sleeve and picked up the fire stoker again. I stared at her. Uh…

"Um, do you feel better now?" I asked. Kagome nodded, but didn't look at me. With a few more stokes at the flames, she glanced at me.

"Go ahead and leave," she said. There was no sad or mad tone in her voice, but I was still suspicious. "Just hurry home."

"Are you sure?" I asked. Kagome nodded.

"Be careful," she said. With that, she turned away from me again and looked back to the fire.

"Alright then," I replied as I stood up. I quickly bent down to kiss her cheek. "Love you. See you tomorrow evening." Kagome waved without looking at me.

I hesitated, but finally left.

I took a deep breath as soon as I was outside of our house. This was harder than slaying yokai.

Miroku and I met up in the middle of the village and began to make our way to the job. As we walked, I tried to think of how to bring up my woes.

"So," I began. "How's Sango?" Miroku smiled.

"She's wonderful," he replied. "Such a lovely woman. How's Kagome?" I frowned.

"She's…good," I answered. We were quiet for a moment.

"Now, I assumed that you weren't just asking how Sango is," he said. "I'm guessing you were asking how _Pregnant_ Sango is." I looked at Miroku with wide eyes.

"Yeah," I replied. "That's exactly what I meant. Kagome is acting all weird and I just wanted to see if Sango ever acts weird when she's pregnant." Miroku chuckled.

"First of all," he advised, "I would refrain from saying she's acting 'weird.' That will just fuel any sort of fire." I mentally kicked myself.

"But for this conversation's sake, tell me about how she's acting weird," he continued. "Perhaps I can help."

I told Miroku about the crying, yelling, random smiling, and all the emotions in between.

"I can never tell how she's going to react," I explained.

"Take earlier for example. I told her that you and I were going on a job, and she wanted to come." I scoffed. "Obviously I'm not taking my pregnant wife on a yokai extermination job, but she started crying and she said that I didn't want her around." I rolled my eyes.

"When I tried to comfort her, she went all quiet and told me to just go," I continued. "She didn't seem mad or sad anymore, but it was still weird. I don't know how to handle that."

Miroku shook his head. "Poor Inuyasha," he said. "You have much to learn." I frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked defensively. Miroku chuckled.

"First of all," he began, "it's completely normal for pregnant women to have mood swings. The same thing happens with Sango. Sometimes I can help her feel better, but sometimes I just sit with her until I at least _know_ she's better." He shook his head.

"Ruler number one: don't leave the wife when she's acting like that. Try and at least do something to take her mind off of whatever's upsetting her or ask her if she wants you to do anything. She's going to carry your child for nine months. It's the least you could do."

I paused and thought about his words.

"So…I shouldn't have left even though she told me to?" I asked. Miroku nodded.

"Exactly," he replied. "Especially since she had just cried." That was when I started to feel like crap.

"Oh," was all I could muster. I sighed.

Miroku chuckled again. "Don't worry, Inuyasha," he said. "You'll get the hang of it. By your fourth or fifth child, you'll be able to maneuver pregnant women with perfect ease." My eyes widened.

"We are _not_ having four children," I countered. "No way." Miroku smiled.

"Well, perhaps that's for the better," he replied. "I can't imagine how you'll handle Kagome being pregnant four times." I huffed.

We reached the village fairly late that night, and the residents gave us a place to stay that night for the extermination the next morning.

As I sat awake, unable to sleep, my thoughts drifted to Kagome.

I felt guilty about leaving her when she was apparently still upset, but how was I supposed to know?

Even though I was freaked out by how she'd been lately, I tried to think about how she was probably feeling. I'm sure she was scared about having the baby; she'd once told me that women in her time don't get married and have children until later in life.

The day after she I told her she was pregnant, she said that having a baby at twenty-one like she was is considered pretty young in her time, even though here it's considered a fairly late age to have a first child.

But hey, I'm like two-hundred years old, so I guess we were perfect for each other.

The next day, Miroku and I were able to exterminate the yokai, but I wasn't surprised that it had taken so many tries to get rid of it. That thing just didn't want to die.

The villagers offered to let us stay for dinner, but we declined. We were both ready to get back to our wives.

When we arrived home that night, I caught Kagome's scent under Goshinboku.

I ran to the tree and, sure enough, there she was.

I smiled and went to sit next to her.

"I'm home," I said as I got situated. Kagome looked at me and frowned.

"I see," she replied. Crap, she was still mad.

"Listen, Kagome," I began. "I'm sorry that I left when you were still mad yesterday. I'm trying to learn how to help you in the best ways that I can, but I'm still not very good at it. I know that you're trying to adjust, too, and that you have a person growing inside you which is way harder than my job." I smiled and took her hand.

"I really am sorry," I continued. "But please just tell me how you're feeling so I can actually help you instead of leaving because I don't realize you're feeling crappy." Kagome looked at me for a moment, and then she started crying.

I started freaking out.

"I'm sorry!" I shouted. "Don't cry again!" That was when Kagome did something beautiful.

She began to laugh.

It wasn't her "pregnant" laugh, but her real, true, Kagome laugh.

Kagome squeezed my hand and smiled at me.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha," she said. "Thank you for what you said. It's just…I didn't expect to feel so up and down. Being pregnant is pretty weird. I talked to Sango today, and she told me about some different breathing techniques to try and stay calm." Kagome eyed me.

"And I'm sure you talked to Miroku," she continued. "I'm glad you did." I finally smiled at her and hugged her.

"So you'll tell me next time you're upset?" I asked. "If I know you feel bad, then I'll try to help you instead of just being oblivious." Kagome smiled and nodded.

"Perfect," she replied. "I love you, Inuyasha." I chuckled and held her tightly.

"I love you, too," I said. I pulled back so I could touch her stomach.

"And I also love you," I said to her belly. "But you need to chill out and give your mom a break." Kagome laughed again, her genuine laugh, and I joined in.

Now that we had that taken care of…

"Alright," I said seriously. "How about we go find a nice hot springs. Do you want to do that?" Kagome leaned forward and kissed me quickly.

"Do you even need to ask?"

As we left for the hot springs, I breathed a sigh of relief.

For the first time, I was actually excited about going to a hot springs.

Ah, the joys of pregnancy. I hope you guys liked this. :)

Much love. :)


	3. Rin and Kagome

Hello, my loves. I've had some reviewers requesting some Sesshomaru and Jaken scenes. I couldn't find a good spot to add them in OOT, but this whole chapter is from Rin's POV and of course Sesshomaru and Jaken will be in it, too. I hope this makes up for them not being in OOT ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Rin:

I liked living in Kaede's village.

There were always people milling around, and I enjoyed being able to play with Miroku and Sango's twin daughters and their toddler. Sango said I was her favorite babysitter.

Kaede was like the grandmother I'd never had, and living in her house with her was great because I was always learning something new.

Who knew travelling with a yokai and an imp for a year could deprive a girl of so much?  
Of course, I missed Lord Sesshomaru and Master Jaken when they left the village after their visits. While I loved sleeping in a house on a nice futon, I missed sleeping under the stars against A-Un with Lord Sesshomaru close by.

But these last few years in the village have been wonderful. Just recently, Kagome and Inuyasha announced that they were going to have a baby. Although Kagome said she's only a few months along, she has the slightest roundness in her stomach. It's not visible through her Miko garb, but she let me feel her stomach after she told us all about her pregnancy. It's small, but I could definitely feel a little baby bump.

The next time Sesshomaru came to visit me, I told him about Kagome and Inuyasha's baby.

"Kagome is pregnant!" I told him happily after our initial greeting. Jaken immediately began his usual shrieking.

"Rin, why would you bother informing Lord Sesshomaru of such useless facts such as that!" he scolded loudly. "Lord Sesshomaru would not lower himself to care about such silly human affairs!"

"Jaken," Sesshomaru said menacingly. "That is enough."

I laughed. It was just like old times.

"I'm very happy for her and Inuyasha," I said as I continued telling them about Kagome. "Can you believe it? How exciting!" Sesshomaru nodded.

"I was aware she was pregnant when I arrived," he replied. "I could smell it as soon as I got here." I was intrigued.

"You can smell that she's pregnant?" I asked. "That's so weird."

"It is something all yokai are able to smell," he explained. "I am sure Inuyasha is the one that knew first. He probably smelled it before the thought had even crossed his human's mind."

I was surprised.

Later that day, I went to Kagome's house.

Inuyasha and Miroku had gone on a job, so she was alone in the house. When I walked in, she seemed to be tidying up.

"Hi, Kagome," I greeted. Kagome turned at the sound of my voice and she smiled.

"Hello, Rin," she replied happily. "How are you? How was your visit with Sesshomaru?" I smiled and spun around in a circle.

"He gave me a new kimono," I announced as I showed it off. "It was very fun as usual." Kagome smiled again.

"I'm happy to hear that," she replied. "Would you like to come sit down?" I nodded and went to have a seat in front of her stove where a fire was going. It was chilly, so I was happy to be in front of the warmth.

"Lord Sesshomaru said that he could smell that you're pregnant," I said. "And that the same is true for all yokai. Is that right?" Kagome laughed.

"As weird as it sounds," she began, "yes, that's right. I guess you must have been off with Sesshomaru when we first talked announced the pregnancy and Inuyasha told me and Sango the genders of our babies." My eyes widened.

"He even knew the genders?" I asked incredulously. "Man…I missed a lot during that one day I was gone with Lord Sesshomaru!" Kagome smiled kindly.

"It's alright," she replied. "You can get all caught up now! Inuyasha and I are having a girl." I squealed.

" _Kawaii!_ " I shrieked. "Can I touch?" Kagome laughed and nodded.

I reached out gently touched her stomach. Just then, I felt a weird sensation under my hand.

"Kagome," I said excitedly. "I think she just kicked!" Kagome blushed a little.

"No, that was my stomach growling," she replied. "I was about to make dinner when you came in." She laughed and I felt her stomach do it again. I laughed along with her as I moved my hand away.

"Would you like to eat dinner with me?" she asked. "Everyone is busy this evening, so it'll just be you and me." I nodded excitedly.

I helped Kagome prepare the soup and when it was done, we began to eat.

"I'm not the best cook," Kagome said sheepishly. "This is Sango's recipe, but I've been told I don't execute it very well." I was shocked.

"Who would tell you that?" I asked. Then I realized.

" _Inuyasha_ ," we said in unison at the same time. We both laughed and Kagome shook her head.

"He's something else," she said with a content smile.

I loved seeing Kagome talk about Inuyasha. She always got so happy and blushy. Watching the two of them interact with each other was one of my favorite things to do. Not to sound creepy or anything…it was just so amazing to see how in love they are.

It made me think of how I felt around Sesshomaru…

I hurriedly brushed away my thoughts, but Kagome noticed my sudden bristle.

"Rin, how old are you?" she asked.

"I'm almost fifteen," I replied. Kagome smiled.

"I was fifteen when I met and fell in love with Inuyasha," she replied. "I think that age is a good omen." I blushed furiously.

Kagome smiled one last time and then she grabbed her old yellow backpack.

"When I got back here," she began, "Shippo had saved some of the old toys I had brought for him. I keep them all in here." She began to rummage through her bag until she found what she was looking for.

"Aha," she said as she pulled something out of her bag. She handed me what looked like little sutras.

"These are playing cards," she explained. "We used to always play fun card games. Would you like for me to teach you one?" I nodded excitedly.

With that, Kagome "dealt" the cards and began to teach me how to play.

I couldn't help but smile the whole time. I loved Kagome. She was the big sister and mom I'd never had all wrapped in one.

I was very happy in this village.

I love writing from Rin's perspective! She's such an adorable character and I love her. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I had such a fun time writing it.

Much love. :)


	4. A Big Brother

Hello, dears. I apologize for the absence. College is killing me *rolls eyes*

Anyway, here is another installment of The Next Generation! This one is from Shippo's point of view.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 4: Shippo

The village came into view as I made my way out of the forest. I couldn't help but smile as I caught the scents of my family.

I had come straight from my previous kitsune exam. My ranking had gone up to third, and I couldn't wait to tell everyone, especially Inuyasha. I knew he'd be proud of me.

When I reached the edge of the village, I headed straight for Inuyasha and Kagome's house. I was so excited.

Once I reached their house, I ran right through the door.

"Kagome!" I shouted "Inuyasha!" Looking around, I saw that no one was in the house.

 _Well, that was anti-climactic,_ I thought to myself. I sighed and sat down on the floor. Someone would come eventually.

About ten minutes later, I heard footsteps from outside the house. I jumped up and ran to the door.

When Inuyasha walked through, I smiled widely and hopped into his arms.

"Inuyasha!" I cried as I hugged him tightly.

"Shippo," he replied as he awkwardly patted my back. He'd never been much of a hugger.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he gently pulled me off of him. He set me on the ground and I looked up at him proudly.

"I have good news," I replied. "Where's Kagome? I want to tell her, too." Inuyasha walked over to his futon and sat down.

"She's with Sango," he explained. "They're talking about birthing stuff." My eyes widened.

"Sango's pregnant?" I asked excitedly. Inuyasha nodded. "So is Kagome," he replied. I gasped so hard I thought one of my lungs would collapse.

"Kagome is pregnant?!" I shouted. Inuyasha chuckled and smiled.

"Yeah," he confirmed. I couldn't help it. I ran over and hugged him again.

"Alright, that's enough," Inuyasha said as he set me on the floor in front of him.

With my excitement unfazed, I bombarded Inuyasha with questions.

"When will she have the baby? What gender is it? When can I see Kagome? Will you name the baby Shippo?" By the time I'd asked my last question, I was breathing heavily. Being curious takes a lot out of a kitsune.

Inuyasha laughed. "In a few months," he replied. "It's a girl, you can see Kagome when she gets home, and no, we will not be naming this baby, or any future babies, Shippo." I pouted.

"But Shippo is a great name," I argued. Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"No," he said firmly. "We haven't decided on a name yet."

"Oh," I replied. "Well, I'm just happy that you're having a baby." Inuyasha smiled one of his rare, genuine, blissful smiles.

"So am I," he replied sincerely.

Just then, Kagome walked through the door.

"Shippo!" she exclaimed when she saw me. I jumped up like I had when I saw Inuyasha.

"Kagome!" I hollered as I threw myself into her arms.

"Be careful," Inuyasha scolded. "Don't hurt the baby." Kagome laughed and hugged me tightly.

"Don't worry, Inuyasha," she replied. "This baby can handle a few bear hugs here and there." I snuggled my face into Kagome's neck as she carried me over to where Inuyasha was. She set me down and sat next to her husband as she looked at me.

"Look how grown you are, Shippo," she said happily. "How long has it been since you've come to see us? A year?" I nodded.

"Over a year," I replied. "The last time I came was for your wedding. And now you're having a baby!" Kagome laughed again and motioned to her stomach.

"Would you like to feel?" she asked. I hesitated. I'd never touched a pregnant woman's belly before.

"It's okay," she said when she saw my hesitation. "It won't hurt. We do it all the time."

Upon hearing her encouraging words, I slowly reached out and gently laid a hand on the lower part of her stomach. Sure enough, there was a small roundness there.

"Wow," I murmured. "A baby." Kagome smiled.

"You'll be like her big brother, right?" Kagome asked. I instantly felt honored.

"Of course," I declared as I puffed my chest out. "I'll be strong for the baby." Kagome laughed and Inuyasha chuckled.

"Didn't you want to tell us something?" Inuyasha reminded me.

"Oh, yeah!" I replied. "I'm ranked third now!" Kagome clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Shippo, I'm so proud of you!" she said. Inuyasha nodded. "Good job, kit," he complimented. I felt pride rush through me.

"Now your baby will have a ranked three kitsune as a brother," I announced. Inuyasha and Kagome both laughed. I wasn't sure why, though. I was being completely serious.

"We're very fortunate to have you," Kagome replied as she pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back and inhaled her slightly altered scent. She still smelled like Kagome, but her scent was fuller. I knew it was because of the baby, and that made me smile.

I wound up staying and eating dinner with them. Afterwards, Kagome offered to let me sleep in their house for the night.

Kagome laid out their extra futon for me, but I curled up with her instead. I thought Inuyasha would put his foot down, but he merely gave a half-hearted grunt. Kagome and I giggled like we'd gotten away with a crime.

As I snuggled up against Kagome and my soon-to-be baby sister, I resolved to work even harder to become a mighty yokai. Now it wasn't just for myself or my family.

It was for imouto-chan, too.

Shippo is such a cute character! I've never written from his perspective before, so this was actually a little hard! Let me know what you think. I have another idea for a chapter that I'll try to write out and upload within the next couple days.

Much love. :)


	5. Reality of Birth

Yay, another chapter! I love seeing your all's reviews! They make me so happy.

Here's another chapter from Mama Kagome's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 5: Kagome

"Kagome-chan!"

I turned my head at the sound of my name and saw a very pregnant Sango and a very worried Miroku making their way to Inuyasha and me at our perches under Goshinboku.

"Hi, Sango-chan!" I called back. "Hi, Miroku!" Inuyasha nodded at them.

Sango smiled brightly, but Miroku only trailed behind her with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Sango, darling," he said, "you're due any day now. You need to take it easy." Sango waved off his concern.

"This isn't the first time I've been pregnant," she replied. "I know what to do." Miroku looked like he wanted to argue, but one look from Sango shut him up.

With her husband silenced, Sango turned back to me.

"We wanted your help on deciding a name for our baby," she said. My eyes widened. "Really?" I asked. Sango nodded happily.

"This is the first birth of ours that you'll see, and you mean so much to us…" she trailed off and looked at me expectantly.

"Will you, Kagome-chan?" she asked. I smiled and nodded.

"Of course I will!" I replied. "Do you have any ideas?" Sango thought for a moment.

"Well, all of our children's names are special," she replied. "This baby is our second boy, so we want it to complement Akio's name." I nodded.

"That's a good idea," I said. "Akio…bright man, right?" Sango nodded.

"It also means hero," she added. "We liked that." I thought for a moment.

"Since Akio has such a strong-willed name, maybe this baby should have a more…I don't know…peaceful name," I suggested. "Something calm rather than enthusiastic."

Miroku looked at Sango. "I think that's a good idea," he commented. Sango smiled.

"I agree," she replied. "So what's a name that would work?"

"Hmm," I pondered. "Peaceful…calm…" Then it came to me.

"I know!" I exclaimed. "What about Yohei?" Sango glanced at Miroku, who smiled at her.

"Flat sea?" she asked. I nodded.

"The flat sea is peaceful," I explained. "It's calm, but it can also be dangerous if underestimated. Yohei…he is peaceful and calm, but he can rise to the occasion." Sango smiled widely and took Miroku's hand.

"That's perfect, Kagome-chan," she said as she bent down to hug me. "Thank you."

She tried to stand back up, but she got stuck in a sort half-bent position. Miroku had to quickly help her straighten up.

"Whoo," she said when she had regained her balance. "Being pregnant is great, isn't it?" I giggled.

"Only sometimes," I said, half-kidding. It was fun, but it could definitely be annoying.

Inuyasha took my hand and gently rubbed his fingers across my knuckles. "Now we need to figure out our baby's name," he said. I smiled knowingly.

Ever since we found out I was pregnant with a girl, I knew what I wanted to name her.

"What about…" I began, but I was quickly cut off by a shriek.

Sango had bent over again, but this time it was in pain rather than for a hug.

"Sango-chan, what's wrong?" I asked. Sango gripped at her stomach as Miroku came over to support her.

"The baby is coming," Miroku answered.

My eyes widened. "Holy crap!" I shouted. "What do we do?" Miroku put Sango's arm around his neck.

"We need to get to our house," he explained as he helped Sango back to the village. "Everything is set up there."

I quickly got up to help Miroku get Sango moving.

"Inuyasha," I said urgently. "Go get Kaede and tell her to meet us at their house." Inuyasha nodded and ran off.

By the time the three of us had made it to Miroku and Sango's house, Kaede and Inuyasha were already there waiting.

"The children are with another villager," Kaede explained as we helped Sango inside. Once we had Sango settled, Miroku came to sit next to her head.

"Everything good here?" Inuyasha asked. I nodded and smiled.

"Can you go check on their kids please?" I asked. "I'll come find you when baby Yohei is born." Inuyasha nodded and left.

I turned to Sango. "All right, Sango-chan. Are you ready?"

Sango screamed in response.

The entire birthing process had lasted for nearly an hour. I saw a lot of gross stuff that I wasn't prepared to see. My health classes never told us about all of those…liquids.

I shuddered as I left to go find Inuyasha.

I found him a few houses down with Miroku and Sango's three children.

"She had the baby," I told him. "Let's take them home." Inuyasha eyed me.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "You look a little…green." I waved him off and picked Akio up.

"Let's just drop them off first," I said.

Once the children were home, Inuyasha and I headed straight for our house. I was too worn out for our nightly walk to Goshinboku.

As soon as we got to our house, I went and laid down on our futon. Inuyasha came over and sat beside me. "Was it…that bad?" he asked.

I felt a wave of nausea rush through me, and I knew it wasn't pregnancy related. At least, not related to _my_ pregnancy.

"It was just really messy," I replied. "And it looked like it hurt so much." I rubbed my own belly.

"I know that the pain is nothing compared to how much you love the baby after it's born," I continued. "I'm not afraid of the pain. It's just…gross. And I'm nervous something will go wrong."

Inuyasha took my hand and pulled me up beside him so he could tug me into his arms.

"Everything will be fine," he said. "I'll be right there with you to hold your hand, and I won't even get grossed out by the birthing juice." I made a face at his word choice and rolled my eyes.

"Inuyasha, you couldn't even handle me throwing up," I pointed out. "How are you going to handle watching an entire placenta's worth of 'birthing juice' come out of me?" I thought Inuyasha would turn as green as I did, but he just looked confused.

"What's a placenta?" he asked. I just stared at him.

"Never mind," I replied. "Just…you'll be grossed out and I'll be grossed out and…" I felt my voice go thick with tears, and my eyes went blurry.

Inuyasha pulled me back a little so he could look at me.

"Hey," he said gently. "Why are you crying?" I shook my head and tried to wipe my tears away.

"I'm just scared," I replied. "This is…it's not what I was expecting to happen when I would have a child, you know? I expected to be older and to be in a hospital with drugs and stethoscopes." Inuyasha hesitated.

"I don't know what any of those things are," he admitted. I felt the tears come harder.

"I know," I wailed. Inuyasha ran a clawed hand through my hair.

"Would you rather give birth in your original time?" he asked. I shook my head.

"No," I replied honestly. "This is home now. We met here, we fell in love here, our lives are here. I just…it's a lot." I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm happy, Inuyasha," I said honestly. "I'm happy to be here, and I'm happy to be carrying your child. I'm excited for us to be parents." I laughed a little as I wiped the rest of my tears away.

"I just had a moment," I said. "But I'm fine now." I sniffled. "I'm sorry."

Inuyasha chuckled. "It's been, what, seven months since you got pregnant?" he asked. "I'm used to all of this. You don't have to apologize. I know things are different here, but I'm going to support you in every single way possible." He snorted.

"And anyway, I'm probably ten times stronger than stek…stethope…er, whatever that last thing was," he said. I laughed and wrapped my arms around him.

"You are," I replied sincerely. "And I'm very fortunate to have you." Inuyasha kissed the top of my head.

"I love you, Kagome," he said. I smiled.

"I love you, too."

I literally sat down expecting to write three paragraphs and this turned into 4 pages lol. I like how this chapter turned out though! Let me know what you think.

Much love.


	6. Grave Confessions

Hello, darlings! I had a sudden but completely wonderful lull in schoolwork (and by lull, I mean that I'm ignoring the final assignments due within the next two weeks ahahaha I'm going to die btw) so I've been able to write a bunch of new content for you all!

As of right now, in addition to writing new chapters for this fic, I'm trying to adjust an AU fic I have so it can be better-suited for a chapter format. I have no clue when I'll post it, but just a heads-up :

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 6: Inuyasha

"Arrgghh!"

Kagome groaned in frustration. I was surprised to hear the sudden noise; she'd been taking one of her usual early afternoon naps.

I looked over at her as she fell back on our futon.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Kagome closed her eyes and tried to relax.

"I'm a giant," she replied. "I'm a giant that can't get up off of her own futon." I laughed but quickly tried to stop when Kagome glared at me.

"It's not funny!" she protested. I bent down and picked her up so she was on her feet.

"Thanks," she grumbled. I kissed her cheek and took her hand.

"Let's go to Kaede's house," I suggested. "I'm sure dinner is almost ready." Kagome nodded and pressed a hand to her very large baby bump. She was due any day now, so I knew she had to be uncomfortable.

Not even thirty seconds after we left the house, Kagome had to stop and take a break.

"Sorry," she said as she tried to catch her breath. "I'm fine." I rolled my eyes and picked her up bridal-style.

"Inuyasha, I said I'm fine!" she complained. I leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss.

When I pulled away, I smirked at her silence. "It's only for a few more days," I said. "It's easier to carry you anyway." Kagome looked like she wanted to argue, but I knew that she was tired. It wasn't hard to win this argument.

"Fine," she finally said. "I've enjoyed being pregnant for the most part, but I'm ready to pop this sucker out." I laughed and hugged Kagome tighter.

"Yeah, you've gotten pretty big," I pointed out. Kagome frowned and swatted me on the arm.

"You should _never_ say that to a pregnant woman," she scolded. "It's a good thing I love you. I'm tempted to just pummel you."

"I'd like to see you try," I teased. Kagome looked like she was going to yell, but she just laughed.

"I don't think it would end too well," she said as laid her head against me. "And, um, thanks for carrying me." I smiled and held her close.

I put Kagome down when we reached Kaede's house so she could walk in with at least a little bit of dignity.

Kagome teetered on her feet a bit, but once she had regained her balance, we headed inside.

"Hi, everyone," she greeted weakly.

Miroku, Sango, their children, and Kaede were already in the house waiting for us.

"Oh, Kagome-chan," Sango said sympathetically as she took in Kagome's obvious discomfort. "I was you only one month ago." Kagome grimaced.

"It's fun, right?" she muttered as I helped her to sit down. Sango laughed and shook her head.

"The first pregnancy is the hardest," she said. "The ones after are a little better." Kagome nodded and set one hand on the swell of her stomach.

"That's good to hear," Kagome replied. "But honestly, Sango-chan. How have you done this three times?" Sango giggled.

"You'll understand after she's born," she explained. "You'll have one, and you'll want a million." I put my arm around Kagome and she looked up at me mischievously.

"I just know we're going to have as many babies as it takes to get one with Inuyasha's ears," Kagome said. I was happy to see her mood improving, but I blushed. That was a little embarrassing.

Miroku chuckled. "Oh, come now, Inuyasha," he chided. "There's no need to be embarrassed. Be proud of what kind of child you can give your wife." Pride resonated on his face.

"Sango has been very lucky," Miroku continued. "I've been able to give her devastatingly beautiful children." Sango eyed him.

"You know, Inuyasha," Sango said with a wink to Kagome and me. "I think I would like a child with dog ears, too. Could you oblige?" Miroku's jaw dropped. Sango pretended to ignore him.

"But, of course, only if that's alright with you, Kagome-chan," she added. I tried to stifle a laugh.  
"Well, I'm not sure," Kagome replied as she turned to me. "Inuyasha, what are your thoughts?" I feigned pensiveness.

"I'm in," I finally said. "We just have to wait until Kagome pops this one out to make sure we get a dog-eared baby first." Miroku sputtered.

"I-you can't-how inappropriate-Inuyasha- _Sango!_ " Miroku tripped over every word as we all dissolved into laughter. Even Kaede couldn't help but crack a smile.

"If I could just say," Kaede said as we all calmed down. "I am so proud of all of ye." Upon hearing her suddenly serious tone, we all went silent and turned our attention on her.

"Kagome, Inuyasha," she said as she turned to us. "Ye two could not stand each other when ye first met, but look how far ye have come." Her gaze set on me.

"Inuyasha, ye have learned to open up to others," she continued. "That is a trait I had never expected from ye. You are a loyal and true protector to Kagome and the rest of us." I nodded in gratitude at her words. Truth be told, I nearly felt tears prickle in my eyes, but I held them back.

Kaede's gaze then went to Kagome. "And ye, my dear girl," she said. "Ye possess incredible power. Seeing ye continue to perfect your powers has been something I am forever grateful to have witnessed. Ye are a true and fine Miko. I am truly amazed." Kagome didn't bother to hold back the silent tears that had begun to fall down her cheeks.

"Thank you," she replied to Kaede. Kaede smiled and then looked at Miroku and Sango.

"And ye two," she continued. "Sango, ye have overcome so many obstacles and so much pain. Now look how strong ye are. I am in awe. The tragedies that ye have faced are numerous and great, and yet here ye are on the other side so much stronger than ye were." Sango's eyes had tears in them as well.

"Thank you, Kaede," she replied. "Your words mean a lot." Kaede smiled at her and then looked at Miroku.

"And ye, Miroku," she continued. To my surprise, she paused and just peered at him for a moment. "Well, the biggest thing I am amazed by in ye is that ye have somehow managed to suppress your lecherous nature. Not by much, but I will admit that it is somewhat less prominent." Despite the serious mood, we all began to laugh again, including Kaede.

"What I am most of all trying to say, children, is that I am very proud of ye all," Kaede concluded.

We all bowed and murmured our sincere thanks. I was truly touched by what Kaede had said, but something felt off. I knew she was completely honest about how she now viewed us, but something was just a little strange.

"But now with all of that out of the way," Kaede said. "Who's hungry?"

Dinner was passed around and the good tidings increased. Kagome seemed in a better mood than she had been in weeks, and I was happy to see everyone so happy and content.

I caught Kaede's eye in the midst of our meal, and an understanding passed between us.

My suspicion was true.

We all left after dinner, and Kagome and I headed home. Once she had fallen asleep, I headed back over to Kaede's house.

I figured she'd still be awake, and I proved to be right.

"Inuyasha," she greeted as I walked in. "I expected that ye would return tonight."

"So it's true?" I asked. Kaede nodded solemnly.

"Yes," she replied. "I will not be alive for much longer." I shut my eyes and shook my head at her spoken truth.

"Are you in any pain?" I asked. "What made you realize?" Kaede sighed.

"No, I am not in any pain," she replied to my relief. "I have just been feeling like my body is…unsustainable as of late. My time is coming soon." Grief began to fill me, and she wasn't even gone yet.

"Kaede," I began, but I soon found myself unable to continued. Kaede smiled.

"Ye need not worry about me," she replied. "I know that I still have at least a little time. Hopefully enough time to meet your child." I nodded, unable to speak.

"But please, Inuyasha," she said. "I ask that ye not repeat this to anyone, especially not Kagome. It wouldn't be good for the baby." I frowned, but nodded again in agreement.

"Alright," I replied. "And, uh, that sucks. It'll be…not as pleasant if you're not around." I wasn't the most eloquent with words, but hopefully Kaede understood. If anyone could ever understand me aside from Kagome, it was Kaede.

Sure enough, Kaede nodded and smiled. "Thank ye, Inuyasha," she said. "I meant what I said. Ye are a wonderful…" Kaede's voice broke, and her words faltered. My eyes widened at her sudden shift to tears, but I didn't comment on it. I knew this must be hard for her.

"I understand," I said. "Thank you." Kaede nodded and wiped her eyes.

"Well, ye have a pregnant wife to get home to," she said. "I will see ye tomorrow." I hesitated for a moment, but I soon nodded.

"Good night, Kaede," I said as I rose and walked to the door.

"Good night, Inuyasha," she replied. With that, I left.

On the walk home, I found myself wishing with a desire I didn't know I had in me that Kaede would live just as long as she wanted: long enough to meet my and Kagome's child.

I knew she would, though. That woman was too stubborn to not have her way, even with death.

I would miss that.

Okay, okay, I know this turned into a sad chapter, but we all know that Kaede can't live forever.

A quick note: I have activated a beta profile, so please consider contacting me for that! Also, I've said this before, but also feel free to contact me even if you'd just like a new friend. I've already made a lovely friend on here, 00nighthowler00 (check out her story, which I'm a beta for!) and I would love to make more!

And thanks, as always, to all of you readers and reviewers. You make my world go 'round.

Much love. :)


	7. The Last Night

First I have to mention 00nighthowler00 again lol I actually think I've mentioned you like ten times, my friend! I was looking through Our Own Time the other day and I saw your username in almost all of my later chapters' A/N's xD And guys, go check out this awesome author's story! :)

Also, here's a warning…this is from Kaede's POV. *sniffles* Also, I get so tired of putting "ye" in the story whenever Kaede talks. I don't want to do that when she's narrating either so I'm just going to write the normal "you" when she's thinking and "ye" when she's actually talking. I just can't handle so many ye's, ye know? xD

Okay, here we go.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 7: The Last Night

Of all the people to figure out that I would soon be departing from this life, I knew Inuyasha was bound to realize it. After we spoke, I felt a deep sadness in my heart. I would be sad to die. I was not afraid of it, but I would miss all of the children…even though they weren't quite children anymore. Even Shippo was growing up to be a very strong yokai.

I meant what I said to Inuyasha. If I could just live long enough to meet their child, I would be content. To meet the child that came from them is something I cannot leave this life without doing.

Kagome and Inuyasha…they were like the children I'd never had, even though they called me _baba_. I love them dearly.

When their baby was finally born, I was overjoyed that I'd seen her. Izayoi was beautiful.

"Kaede!" Kagome had said on the day Izayoi was born. Inuyasha had promised to not tell her about our conversation, so I knew she didn't know.

"Come hold the baby!" she chirped. I smiled and sat down next to the new mother. She gently handed me her silver-haired, gray-eyed baby and I looked down on the most beautiful child I'd ever seen.

"She is beautiful, children," I said sincerely. "She is the perfect mix of ye two." Kagome giggled. "I agree," she replied. "I'm just so happy she has Inuyasha's ears. I'd secretly been hoping she would." Inuyasha scoffed.

"What do you mean 'secretly?'" he asked. "You only said it a million times." Kagome laughed and leaned against her husband. "Oh, yeah," she replied.

Inuyasha smiled at her and then looked at me.

"Kaede," he said to me. "I'm, uh, glad you helped with the birth." I smiled.

"As am I," I replied. "I shall never forget it." Inuyasha gave a small smiled and then looked down at his child in my arms.

I felt a strange sense of loss when I gave Izayoi back to Kagome. I had immediately loved that child like my own granddaughter. Inuyasha could tell, as could Kagome.

"Can she call you _Oba-chan_ as she grows up?" Kagome asked. "I know we sort of call you that casually, but I mean as an actual grandmother…she doesn't have either of our mothers or our fathers, but she has you." Kagome smiled brightly, and I felt my heart ache.

Inuyasha's eyes filled with sadness as her met my gaze, but I turned back to Kagome and tried to smile. "Of course, child," I replied. "Izayoi will be my _mago_." Kagome reached out and took my hand to squeeze it gently, the smile never leaving her face.

I felt tears begin to fill my eyes, and Kagome laughed.

"I'm sorry, Kaede," she said. "I didn't mean to make you cry." I couldn't help but smile back.

"Do not worry, Kagome," I replied. "I am fine." Kagome squeezed my hand once more and then let go to admire her baby again.

Inuyasha and I looked at each other again. He looked at me with eyes filled with questions. I knew what he was asking.

I discreetly nodded at him.

Inuyasha nodded back at me.

He was going to tell Kagome tonight.

Hours later, I was lying in my bed trying to sleep, but I suddenly felt a chilling feeling.

Tomorrow.

I would be gone tomorrow.

To be continued…

So sad, right? Well, Kaede can't live forever and I want to give her a respectful death.

Much love. :)


	8. Kaede's Legacy

Did I make you sad in the last chapter? I'm sorry. ***** sniffles*

Will I make you sad in this chapter? *sniffles* Of course I will.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 8: Kaede's Legacy

Kaede died a week after Izayoi was born.

Before she was gone, she'd told us that she knew her time had been coming, and that she'd lasted longer than she thought.

The last thing she said to me was that she was proud of us all and that she loved my family. She got to hold Izayoi one last time, and then she said goodbye to all of us that day.

Everyone cried that day. Once we had all gone to our respective homes, I knew that the grief would only get worse. It seemed like the pain would never be gone.

After I'd put Izayoi down for a nap, Inuyasha and I laid on our futon.

We were quiet; I was still crying. Inuyasha had cried for a little while, but now he was settling into a silent melancholy.

"So you knew?" I asked softly after a little while. Inuyasha nodded.

"Yeah," he replied. "She asked me to keep it quiet, so I did." Inuyasha sighed. "Kaede said that the only thing that kept her going was the birth of our child. She just wanted to meet Izayoi. She was at peace when she died."

I curled up next to him and buried my face in his haori. "I think I understand," I murmured. "I just wish that she was still here." Inuyasha ran his hand through my hair.

"Me, too," he replied.

The village was quiet for the next week or so. Kaede had been the High Miko, so everyone knew her and was still reeling from her death. Rin was especially somber.

After Kaede's funeral, everyone dispersed to go mourn in solidarity. Rin, however, stayed by Kaede's grave. My heart ached for her.

"Rin?" I said gently. Rin didn't answer me. Instead, she silently reached out for my hand.

I immediately sat down next to her and pulled her into my arms.

Her still child-like body was wracked with sobs, so I just gently rocked her back and forth. After a silent ten minutes, Rin sat up and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry," she whispered. I shook my head. "Don't apologize," I replied. "We're all sad, but I know it must be especially hard on you." Rin sighed and wiped the rest of the tears from her face.

"I've been living with her for several years now," Rin said. "She always told me that I could continue living in her home if she ever passed away." Rin sniffled. "I guess I just didn't expect that it would be so soon." Tears filled her eyes again, and I soon saw a figure floating in the sky.

Not one minute later, Sesshomaru landed silently on the ground. I knew that Rin could sense him; she jumped right up and ran over to him.

I heard her sob quietly as she threw her arms around him. Sesshomaru, surprisingly, set a comforting hand on her back. Sesshomaru looked at the grave and then shifted his gaze to me. I knew he could probably smell what had happened. Inuyasha had told me that sense-wise, funerals were hard for yokai. The scent of death was more prominent to them.

I nodded at Sesshomaru in confirmation. Kaede was dead.

Sesshomaru almost appeared…saddened. If not for Kaede, then for the heartbroken girl that was crying against him.

I left for home soon after.

When I walked through the door, Inuyasha was holding Izayoi and singing his mother's lullaby to her. Usually when I walked in on him singing it, he would smile as I joined in on singing. Today, though, I couldn't do it.

I came and sat down next to him and leaned my head on his shoulder. Inuyasha continued to sing softly to our baby, and I knew that he was also singing it to comfort me as well.

We'd been sitting there together for several moments when I heard a voice outside the house.

"Kagome-sama?" I stood up at the sound of my name and walked out the door.

It was Nori, one of the village women.

"Hello," I greeted quietly. Nori bowed, and then she rose to look into my eyes. Hers were immensely troubled, and I knew something was wrong.

"My son," she began. "He's fallen dreadfully ill with a fever and a rash. I don't know what to do and since Kaede…" Nori's voice broke once before she continued. "You're the new High Miko, right? Can you please help?" My eyes widened.

"Well, I'm not…I don't…" I had no idea how to respond, so I just ignored the title for now.

"Where's your son?" I asked instead. "I'll do what I can to help."

Nori's son was nearly comatose when I walked into their house, so I knelt beside him and immediately got to work.

I remembered several remedies that Kaede had taught me for fevers and rashes, so I quickly whipped them up and gave them to Nori's son.

"His fever will break by tomorrow at the latest," I informed Nori. "Once the fever is gone, the rash will recede and he'll be fine."

Nori bowed at Kagome. "Thank you so much, Kagome-sama," she replied. "I am so grateful." I smiled and nodded at her.

"If there is any other trouble with him, then please don't hesitate to ask for help again," I said as I left.

When I got home, Inuyasha was stirring some soup I'd made the night before. Izayoi was asleep, so I quietly walked in and sat down beside my husband.

Inuyasha set the ladle down and focused on me.

"Everything okay?" he asked. I half-nodded, half-shrugged.

"Nori's son was sick," I replied. "He needed some medicine." Inuyasha raised his eyebrows, and I knew he could tell that wasn't all that was wrong.

"Anything else?" he asked. I paused.

"Um, did Kaede ever mention anything about me taking over as High Miko?" I asked. Inuyasha looked surprised.

"Well, no," he replied. "But everyone just figured that was obvious." I frowned.

"Kaede never said anything about it to me," I explained. "So assuming that everyone is expecting me to take over…am I just supposed to do it?" Inuyasha peered at me.

"I think so," he replied. A sigh escaped me, and a few tears leaked out, too.

"It's just…" I began. "If I take over…then it's like saying it's time to move on." I looked up at Inuyasha.

"I know that she would want me to take over even though she never mentioned it to me," I continued. "But I guess I'm just sad. Me doing this is like the official step forward. It's telling everyone that it's time to move on, whether they're ready or not." Inuyasha pulled me into his arms.

"Just because you take over Kaede's position doesn't mean she never existed," Inuyasha said. "It just means that you're continuing her work. Her memory won't fade…it'll continue." His hand gently smoothed down my hair.

I sighed; he was right.

"Do you think the villagers will accept me?" I asked. Inuyasha leaned back and smiled.

"Nori came to you today," he replied. "I think they already have accepted you."

Inuyasha's words set me at ease, and I knew that everything he said was true.

"I'll do my best to make Kaede proud," I resolved. Inuyasha leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

"She was already proud before she died, Kagome," he said. "Things will only get better."

I put my arms around my husband and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you," I murmured. "I love you." Inuyasha embraced me, and we stayed like that until a gentle cry rang out.

We pulled away and I got up to get Izayoi.

I came right back with her in my arms and sat down next to Inuyasha.

When I began to sing Inuyasha's mother's lullaby, Inuyasha was quick to join in.

It not only soothed Izayoi's cries; it soothed my soul.

To be continued…

And thus, Kaede's legacy continues. *tears up*

Hey, so my SessRin lovers…did you like that little moment I slipped in there? Make sure you check out my SessRin fic called How Far We've Come. You won't be disappointed!

Much love. :)


	9. The First Human Night

Has it really been a month since I uploaded a new chapter? I guess I better make this one pretty good to make up for my absence ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 9: The First Human Night

Izayoi is a month old now.

She's beautiful and lively. Her ears were constantly moving to adjust to the sounds of the world around her.

She was an alert baby, and her yokai senses seemed to be getting stronger every day.

One evening after dinner at Miroku and Sango's house, Kagome and I headed back to our house to put Izayoi to bed.

As soon as we left their house, Izayoi began to cry in Kagome's arms. Kagome gently patted her back and tried to soothe her, but Izayoi's cries only intensified.

"Shh, it's okay," Kagome murmured. Izayoi continued to wail. Suddenly, I caught a familiar scent.

"I think I know what's wrong," I told Kagome as I reached out for the baby. Kagome quickly handed her to me and I put my nose to Izayoi's hair. Sure enough, her scent was changing.

"The yokai in her is receding," I said. "It's her first human night." Kagome's eyes widened as she looked to the baby.

"Is she in pain?" she asked. I held Izayoi close to my chest.

"I wouldn't call it pain exactly," he replied. "But she's not used to not being able to smell or hear everything as acutely as usual. She's trying to adjust." Kagome frowned.

"I feel so bad for her," she said sadly. I looked up to the sky and the sun that was slowly setting.

"Let's hurry up and get home," I replied. "She'll be full-human as soon as the sun sets." Kagome nodded and we quickened our pace.

When we got home, I took Izayoi's futon and brought it over to my and Kagome's.

"What can I do?" Kagome asked. I handed Izayoi to her. "Hold her to your neck," I instructed. "She'll still be able to smell you and it'll calm her down." Kagome did as I directed, and Izayoi calmed down a little bit.

Izayoi's hair soon turned to jet black, and her dog ears drifted away. Her scent was completely devoid of any trace of yokai. Kagome's eyes widened at the change, and even though she's seen the same thing happen to me every month, I could tell that the sight of it happening to our child was affecting her differently.

"So this is what she would look like as a human?" Kagome asked. I nodded. Izayoi's cries lulled at the sound of Kagome's voice, and she looked up at her mother.

With her hair black and her dog ears gone, Izayoi looked exactly like Kagome had as a child. Kagome's mother had shown me an old photo album of Kagome's baby pictures several years ago, and I could hardly believe the resemblance.

"She looks just like you," I said. "Beautiful." Kagome smiled and rocked the baby. Izayoi seemed to be adjusting to her human senses slowly, but she was still a little fussy.

"She is," Kagome replied. "But I miss the silver hair and her little ears." Kagome looked up at me and smiled. "It's the you in her." I chuckled.

"I think she's beautiful either way," I replied. "It's a good thing she has hot parents." Kagome laughed and Izayoi started to cry again at the sudden noise. Kagome quickly gathered herself and stopped laughing so she could gently rock Izayoi in her arms again.

"Sorry, baby," Kagome said gently. "Your daddy is really funny. I hope you get his sense of humor." Kagome smiled as she looked down at Izayoi.

"Do you think she'll sleep at all tonight?" Kagome asked, her eyes never leaving Izayoi. I hesitated. Kagome should know what will happen during her human nights, but I knew it would upset her.

"At this age," I began, "it'll be too difficult for her to sleep. She'll most likely be up all night. My mother said that's how I was until I was two, but then by that time, she said that I told her I was too nervous to sleep. I didn't like not knowing what was going on around me, so I was scared." Kagome looked up at me with sadness in her eyes.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome began. Carefully, without disturbing the baby, she leaned forward and wrapped her free arm around me. "I want to stay up all night with her. I know you do, too." I kissed the top of Kagome's head.

"I'm happy to hear that," I replied quietly. "You're just like my mother was." I knew Kagome was smiling. She held me a little tighter, and then she let go to look at Izayoi again.

"But I'm a little confused, though," Kagome said. "She's only a quarter-yokai. Shouldn't the human in her be more powerful than the yokai?"

"The change will happen for about a year or two," I replied. "The human in her is weak since she's just a baby, so the yokai is stronger. I hope that her human nights will either be farther apart or maybe they'll even disappear altogether." Kagome was quiet for a moment.

"How do you know all this?" she asked. "Neither of us had ever heard of a quarter-yokai child before." I shrugged.

"I thought about it a lot when we found out you were pregnant," I replied. "Totosai and I also talked about it a couple times, but it was all speculation. Now we know it was true." Kagome nodded.

"I see," she replied. "Well, I'm glad we know how to help her as much as we can. Our daughter is going to have a good life." I smiled.

"She's lucky to have you for a mother," I said. "That's a big part of what will make her life better." Kagome smiled back at me.

"And she has a father that knows how to be compassionate and help her with her yokai side in the best ways he can," she replied.

We looked down at Izayoi and realized that she'd stopped crying while we were talking. Her blue eyes were glued to us, and she seemed as comfortable as she'd been tonight.

"Beautiful Izayoi," Kagome murmured. "Sweet baby."

We sat down on our futon then, and we held Izayoi for the rest of the night.

It wasn't until the sun rose the next morning, when Izayoi's silver hair and dog ears returned, that we all laid down on the futon with Izayoi between Kagome and me, and fell asleep.

A/N: Here's my take on how Izayoi's human nights would be and how they would evolve as she grows up. Any other ideas on how this type of thing would be?

Honestly, even though InuKag is my OTP, it was almost a little weird writing about them since I've been writing so much about SessRin in my How Far We've Come fic! I hope this chapter was good, and that I'm not too rusty on writing about Inuyasha and Kagome ;)

Much love. :)


	10. Toddle

Hi! I can't believe I haven't uploaded a new chapter in this fic since June lol oops.

This is just a short little chapter about a big moment for new parents and their young children :)

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 10: Toddle

"Inuyasha, hurry!"

"I'm coming, woman! Calm down!"

"I will _not_ calm down! I swear, if you miss this…"

"I won't miss it!"

Izayoi and I were in our home waiting for Inuyasha to return. He'd been on an extermination job with Miroku, so it was just the baby and I. Izayoi had been crawling for a while, and she'd begun to try and pull herself up on things as if to try and walk. She hadn't quite gotten there yet, so Inuyasha and I had become helicopter parents as we waited for her to finally start toddling.

Well, I had become a helicopter parent. Inuyasha…not so much. He was still excited, but not in the obsessive way I was.

Izayoi must have smelled him coming before I'd heard his footsteps approaching from outside the house; she'd brought herself up into a half-standing position when Inuyasha came through the door.

Izayoi smiled, her two small fangs glinted in the afternoon sunlight that was leaking in through the doorway.

"Hi, Izy," Inuyasha cooed upon seeing her. He kneeled down and held his arms open. "Are you ready to walk?" Izayoi stood up shakily and clapped her hands together once before falling back down. Her smile disappeared and she looked near tears.

"It's okay, Izayoi," I said quickly to try and comfort her. "Try again! Walk over to Daddy." Izayoi slowly pushed herself back up into a standing position as Inuyasha held his arms out wider.

"Come here!" he said encouragingly. Izayoi's smile returned and soon enough…

She took her first steps.

"Inuyasha, she's doing it!" I said excitedly. Inuyasha smiled brightly, his own fangs showing.

Izayoi slowly but surely walked over to Inuyasha and fell down into his arms.

"Izy, you did it!" he said. "You walked!" Inuyasha looked up to meet my eyes and smiled. I felt tears in my eyes as I walked over to them.

Inuyasha held one of his arms out to me and pulled me into the hug.

"We're so proud of you, Izayoi," I said as I kissed the top of her head.

Inuyasha moved closer to me once I'd removed my lips from her hair.

"My turn," he said flirtatiously. I giggled and met him in a kiss.

We pulled away when Izayoi squirmed out of our arms. She began to toddle again and Inuyasha and I immediately started clapping for her.

I couldn't help but laugh. We were such parents.

Later that day, we took her over to Sango and Miroku's house to show them her new ability. Yohei, Sango and Miroku's son, had been walking for about a month so he and Izayoi slowly chased each other around the room. Izayoi wasn't as experienced, so she had to crawl at times. It only made the adults laugh.

On our way back home that night, I caught Inuyasha watching Izayoi from where she was sleeping in his arms as we walked.

"She's gotten so big," he commented as he smoothed her hair down. "It's really crazy…I miss having a little baby." I laughed.

"Well, I'm sure eventually we'll have another one," I said. "Do you want another baby?" Inuyasha nodded. "Not right now," he replied. "But maybe when Izy gets a little older." I wrapped my arm around Inuyasha's waist as we walked.

"Okay," I said simply. I heard Inuyasha chuckle.

"Okay," he repeated.

"But for now we better start baby-proofing at home," I said. "Izayoi is gonna start getting into everything even more than she already does." Inuyasha looked at me questioningly.

"What the heck is 'baby-proofing?'" he asked. I laughed.

"Sorry, future term," I replied. Even though I'd been living here for a few years now, I still couldn't help but drop a future term or two here and there. "It just means that we need to make sure the house is safe now that she's more mobile. We pretty much did that when she was born, but we'll probably have to do another once over since she's going to be toddling everywhere." Inuyasha nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "We can do that tomorrow." I leaned my head on his arm.

"Doesn't it seem weird?" I asked. "That we're married and we have a baby?" Inuyasha laughed.

"I wouldn't describe it as weird," he replied. "Freaking unbelievable, maybe." I rolled my eyes good-naturedly.

"You know what I mean," I said. Inuyasha smiled at me.

"Yeah, I do," he replied. "It is weird, but in the best kind of way." I smiled right back at him.

Once we'd reached our house, we walked in and laid Izayoi on her futon before going over to ours and crawling under the blanket.

"Good night," Inuyasha said as he draped his arm around my waist.

"Good night," I replied.

And it was a good night, and it was also a good life.

A/N: I hope you guys like this little collection of fics. When I do get around to writing new chapters, I always feel really happy. It's nice to create little moments in Inuyasha and Kagome's lives.

Much love. :)


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